Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 21

Il il FRIDAY, May 5, 1995 Detroit 4frcc Vxcss Sports: 1-313-222-6660 INSIDE 1 KENTUCKY DERBY HAS FOREIGN INTRIGUE. 3G. TIGERS FINALLY BEAT INDIANS, 4-3. 4C. REDWINGS PREPARE FOR DALLAS STARS.

8C- -3 WHO'S NEXT? "I have left my job as head football coach but I still have my family and dignity. I've already said that I deeply regret what happened, and it's a source of deep personal embarrassment." From Gary Moeller's resignation statement Who will succeed Gary Moeller? Michigan athletic director Joe Roberson held up a blank sheet when asked who might be on the list of Among the up-and-coming coaches in the game: i CAM CAMERON, Washington Redskins assistant: Was U-M assistant for 10 years. Receivers coach when Desmond Howard won Heisman. TERRY BOWDEN, Auburn coach: Has lost one game in his two seasons. JIM TRESSEL, Youngstown State coach: Three NCAA Division I-AA titles in past four years.

Earlier an assistant at Ohio State, Syracuse. TONY DUNGY, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator: Often mentioned as candidate for NFL head job, he has built a top defense at Minnesota. Jackson native is one of few black NFL coordinators. Ml SBdU II CHARLIE I IP I Vincent if reputation "We've talked seven or eight times since Monday," Carr said, "but we have never talked about that. For what purpose? Everybody wants to make sense of it, but how many rational things do people do who have had too much to drink?" When Moeller and his wife, Ann, went to dinner, their lives were in order.

Their marriage had endured more than 30 years and now their children are grown and making their way in life. And he had a financially secure fall; Moelkr must defy this tragedy There were no more tears for Lloyd Carr to cry. His morning had begun with a visit to Gary Moeller's home, where Michigan's football coach told Carr and the rest of his staff that he could no longer coach the Wolverines, and now it was after 5 o'clock and we sat all alone in the coaches' meeting room in Schembechler Hall. i And Carr, who coached 17 years with Moeller at Michigan and the University of Illinois, is playing vjth a pencil and conceding there is no way to make sense of what his friend did last Friday night at the Excalibur restaurant. GARY MOELLER'S HIGHS LOWS AS MICHIGAN COACH Highs MICHIGAN 38, WASHINGTON 31: The Wolverines beat the defending national champion in the 1993 Rose Bowl and finished the season unbeaten (9-0-3).

It was Moeller's only Rose Bowl victory. -Tyrone Wheatley rushed for 235 yards and scored three touchdowns. MICHIGAN 24, NOTRE DAME 14: Desmond Howard made his famous diving catch in the end zone, and Moeller established a reputation for taking risks on the fourth-and-one call. The 1991 victory was Moeller's first over the Irish. MICHIGAN 16, OHIO STATE 13: U-M tied for the Big Ten title in 1990 Moeller's first season by winning at Columbus.

J.D. Carlson kicked a 37-yard field goal as time. expired. MICHIGAN 21, PENN STATE 13: After losing to Michigan State in 1993, the Wolverines knocked off unbeaten Penn State in the first meeting between these teams. A fourth-quarter goal-line stand proved crucial in the game at State College.

MICHIGAN 26, NOTRE DAME 24: Remy Hamilton kicked a field goal with two seconds left last; season, ending a stirring battle at South Bend. Notre Dame had taken the lead 50 seconds earlier. future, one of the best football jobs in the nation. And respect. A few hours later he was drunk, in jail, his professional and private lives in tatters.

"In a matter of absolute minutes what you work for for decades Carr said, shaking his head sadly and letting the sentence stop without an ending. "It just makes me so damn mad that a career could go up so quickly. A man, in the space of a week, could have all the things he worked for taken away. I don't know anybody who worked harder and cared more about kids than that man." Carr, who will serve as Michigan's interim coach until a more permanent replacement is named, does not pretend to be impartial in what has happened this week. He believes the media has overplayed the story, he believes too much of what happened found its way into the press.

He has cried and missed sleep and when he spoke to the media in Crisler Arena earlier in the day he seemed to blame Moeller's predicament on the men and women from radio, television and newspapers. "Don't shed tears for us," he said. "We don't want your tears. Some of you have kicked us while we were down and some of you will probably continue to kick us. I know guys who have committed murder and rape who haven't been See CHARLIE VINCENT, Page 6C i to i JULIAN H.

GONZALEZDetroit Free Press Lloyd Carr, friend of Gary Moeller, interim coach: "It just makes me so damn mad that a career could go up so quickly. A man could have all the things he worked for taken away." MORE COVERAGE ON PAGES 6-7C 1 Lows One incident sullied an otherwise admirable record with Michigan BY STEVE KORNACKI Free Press Sports Writer Gary Moeller did what was asked at Michigan in five seasons. He beat Ohio State going 3-1-1 against the Blickeyes. pj He won bowl games splitting two Rose Bowls i)d winning the 1991 Gator, 1994 Hall of Fame and 994 Holiday. I COLORADO 27, MICHIGAN 26: The Hail Mary game, the most devastating loss in Moeller's tenure.

Colorado quarterback Kordell Stewart threw a 64-yard Hail Mary pass to Michael Westbrook for a touchdown on the final play. Michigan had controlled the 1994 game at Ain Arbor until the fourth quarter. MICHIGAN STATE 28, MICHIGAN 27: The Wolverines were ranked No. 1 before this 1990 game at Ann Arbor, but failed on two-point conversion after time haj expired. The conversion attempt was controversial because U-M thought MSU committed pass interference ILLINOIS 24, MICHIGAN 2l Coming off the '93 victory at Penif State, Michigan had a chance to finish strong and win the Big Ten title.

But a Ricky Powers fumble gave Illinois possession late in the game, and the Illini scored the winning touchdown with 41 seconds left at Ann Arbor' WISCONSIN 31, MICHIGAN 19; WISCONSIN 13, MICHIGAN 10: Back-to-back losses to the Badgers in 1993-94 were more than any U-M fan could fathom. The '93 defeat was Michigan's fourth of the season. The '94 loss was one of the Wolverines' worst performances in years. FLORIDA STATE 51, MICHIGAN 34: The Wolverines thought they might be heading toward a national title in 1991 after opening the season with impressive victories over Boston College and Notre Dame. But No.

1 Florida State embarrassed them at Ann Arbor, making their defense look slow and inept. Moeller, 54, did everything that was expected during 23 years as an assistant or head coach with the Wolverines. But on one night April 28, 1995 he did the highly unexpected, and none of what he'd done on the previous days as a U-M employee seemed to matter any more. Moeller allegedly got drunk at the Excalibur Restaurant, a posh Southfield supper club. And after 'an obnoxious, vulgar evening topped by an altercation with a police officer, his image became too sullied for U-M president James Duderstat and athletic director Joe Roberson to condone.

Bo Schembechler brought Moeller to Ann Arbor as an assistant in 1969, he became the defensive coordinator in 1973 and was hired in 1976 as the boy coach at Illinois. He was 35 when he took the job, arid was forced out after going 6-24-3 in three seasons (1977-79) with the Illini. Schembechler rehired him in 1980 to coach quarterbacks, and Moeller began a second stint as defensive coordinator when Bill McCartney left for Colorado in 1982. The Wolverines finished No. 2 nationally in 1985 (10-1-1) and led the country with a scoring defense of 6.8 points allowed per game.

Moeller's son, Andy, now a Missouri assistant, was a linebacker and one of the keys to that unit. Schembechler made Moeller his first and only offensive coordinator in 1987, paving the way for the head coach and athletic director to hire him as his successor in January 1990. Moeller came out of the box quick, winning three See GARY MOELLER, Page 6C JULIAN H. GONZALEZDetroit Free Press Who are the candidates to succeed Gary Moeller? Michigan athletic director Joe Roberson told reporters he'd be glad to share his list and held up a blank piece of paper. SSSSEk HSS33S32 msas.